There was a time when June meant copious rains. Lakes, rivers, and reservoirs would over-flow and politicians would take the opportunity to offer prayers to these water bodies. Called as offering of bagina, politicians used the occasion to get publicity in the media. This state-sponsored ritual has significance as it is a form of thanksgiving to the rain gods for their bounty which would help farmers’ carry out their agricultural operations smoothly, resulting in the overall economic prosperity.
What is going on now on the river fronts stands in stark contrast. This time, the state is sponsoring a ceremony to immerse the ashes of the Covid victims. Revenue Minister R Ashok who oversaw the arrangements for this ceremony recently on the banks of the river Cauvery claimed that he considered it his privilege to do this traditional post-cremation ceremony as it is a belief that when the ashes of the dead, preserved in small clay pots, are immersed in the flowing waters, the souls of the deceased attain their liberation. The cultural significance of the belief apart, the minister’s exuberance over his participation in an event of this nature is absurd. The government instead of lamenting the fact that a situation like this has arisen, primarily because of its own multiple failures, seems to be considering it as an achievement that it could organize the event.
As thousands of people fell victim to the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic in the absence of immediate medical attention, the relatives were too scared to perform the last rites of the victims or in some cases, they did not have the resources to do this. Instead of taking pride in the fact that the government could sponsor the ritual in which the unclaimed ashes of victims were duly released into the river, the government should have used the occasion to introspect over its all-round failures which had led to the death of so many people during the pandemic.
Earlier, ministers of this government had taken pride in the fact that they were able to put up temporary cremation grounds and to provide refreshments to those who brought bodies of their near and dear for cremation. This was when the existing crematoria in many parts of the state could not cope with the pressure of steady flow of bodies. Here again, the ministers instead of owning up the responsibility for the death of so many people, which is a direct consequence of gross inadequacy of health infrastructure, used the occasion as a publicity event. Nothing could expose the government’s insensitivity more than this.
Ever since the pandemic started playing havoc, local administration, various social organizations, and even individual volunteers have been disposing off hundreds of bodies, which remained unclaimed. Now, suddenly the minister sprang up to organize this post-cremation ritual and to publicize the event in the media. Generally, these rituals vary widely across castes and communities, and nobody demanded that the state should sponsor a standardized ceremony. Organizing events of this sort is not the primary responsibility of the government. This was obviously a ploy to divert the public attention from the failures of the government, which led to so many deaths in the first place. Second, the government also failed to take action against people who were capitalizing on the people’s misery by allotting hospital beds and life-saving medicines in black market.
More importantly, it is ironical that the state, which has been organizing caste-based vaccination camps privileging priestly classes over Dalits for administering Covid-19 vaccine, is now organizing post-cremation rituals for the dead according to Brahminical traditions disregarding the diverse social traditions that the people followed for this ceremony. The state deputy chief minister’s justification for caste-based vaccine camps, a gross discriminatory practice amidst a humanitarian crisis, was even more disconcerting. ‘Don’t priests have a right to get vaccinated?’ he asked in response to the criticisms. Of course, the priests have the rights but so do others. The question is why should people belonging to one caste be prioritized over others in the administration of vaccine? At least now, the Revenue Minister, who was so keen on organizing the ceremony for mass immersion of the ashes of Covid victims in accordance with Vedic Brahminical traditions, should take up the responsibility of arranging free vaccination for the less fortunate castes and communities.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
